Precision Localization of Mobile G5/G6 Terminals by Coordinated GNSS Reception

ABSTRACT

Mobile wireless terminals, such as vehicles in traffic, can determine the relative positions of other vehicles with improved precision by arranging to acquire GNSS (global navigational satellite system) signals simultaneously, and then analyzing the various data sets differentially. Simultaneous acquisition can cancel many important errors such as motional errors of the vehicles, atmospheric distortions, and satellite timebase errors. Differential analysis to determine the relative positions of vehicles (as opposed to their overall geographical coordinates) can reduce errors related to satellite ephemeris and velocity, as well as roundoff errors. Localization with a precision of less than 1 meter can greatly improve collision avoidance while discriminating near-miss scenarios from imminent collisions, according to some embodiments. Messaging examples, in 5G and 6G, to manage the simultaneous acquisition and differential analysis, are provided in examples. Many other aspects are disclosed.

PRIORITY CLAIMS AND RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/583,386, entitled “V2X Messaging in 5G/6G with Simultaneous GPSReception”, filed Jan. 25, 2022, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/260,814, entitled“Localization and Identification of Vehicles in Traffic by 5GMessaging”, filed Sep. 1, 2021, and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 63/243,437, entitled “V2X Messaging in 5G with Simultaneous GPSReception”, filed Sep. 13, 2021, and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 63/245,227, entitled “V2X with 5G Image Exchange and AI-BasedViewpoint Fusion”, filed Sep. 17, 2021, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 63/246,000, entitled “V2X Connectivity Matrix with5G Sidelink”, filed Sep. 20, 2021, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 63/256,042, entitled “Hailing Procedure for V2R,V2V and V2X Initial Contact in 5G”, filed Oct. 15, 2021, and U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/271,335, entitled “SemaphoreMessages for Rapid 5G and 6G Network Selection”, filed Oct. 25, 2021,and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/272,352, entitled“Sidelink V2V, V2X, and Low-Complexity IoT Communications in 5G and 6G”,filed Oct. 27, 2021, and US Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.63/287,428, entitled “V2X and Vehicle Localization by Local Map Exchangein 5G/6G”, filed Dec. 8, 2021, and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 63/288,237, entitled “V2X with 5G/6G Image Exchange andAI-Based Viewpoint Fusion”, filed Dec. 10, 2021, and U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 63/288,807, entitled “V2X Messaging in 5G/6Gwith Simultaneous GPS Reception”, filed Dec. 13, 2021, and U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/290,731, entitled “VehicleConnectivity, V2X Communication, and 5G/6G Sidelink Messaging”, filedDec. 17, 2021, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems and methods for localizing wirelessentities by satellite-based navigation signals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicles and other mobile wireless terminals are expected to cooperatein managing traffic and other benefits in 5G and 6G. However, suchcooperation generally requires that each communicating user belocalized, by identifying each terminal and its wireless address amongother users in vicinity. Prior art includes a variety of GNSS (globalnavigational satellite system) methods for determining positions, but itis generally difficult for moving vehicles to obtain a spatialresolution better than a few meters due to motional errors in thesatellite signals. For example, the spatial resolution may be limiteddue to the motion of the vehicle while acquiring signals from multiplesatellites, preventing the averaging of successive acquisitions, amongother error sources. Many promising and valuable applications arethereby inhibited, if not prevented altogether.

What is needed is means for a vehicle in motion to determine itslocation, and thereby the positions of proximate vehicles, and otherroadside transmitters, with improved precision.

This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summaryand Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended tobe an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor beviewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations thatsolve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, there is a method for a first wireless entity todetermine a position of a second wireless entity relative to the firstwireless entity, the method comprising: at a predetermined time,acquiring a first set of navigation satellite signals; receiving, fromthe second wireless entity, a wireless data message comprising datarelated to a second set of navigation satellite signals acquired by thesecond vehicle at the predetermined time; differentially analyzing thefirst set of navigation satellite signals and the data related to thesecond set of navigation satellite signals; and determining, accordingto the differential analysis, a distance and a direction between thefirst and second wireless entities.

In another aspect, there is non-transitory computer-readable media in asecond vehicle in traffic, the traffic comprising a first vehicle and atleast one other vehicle, the media containing instructions that whenimplemented by a computing environment cause a method to be performed,the method comprising: receiving, from the first vehicle, a planningmessage specifying a particular time and a particular satellite orsatellites, and further specifying that navigation satellite signalsfrom the particular satellite or satellites are to be acquired at theparticular time; acquiring the navigation satellite signals at theparticular time; determining, from the navigation satellite signals, avalue of a parameter; and transmitting or broadcasting a data messageindicating the value of the parameter and further indicating a secondwireless address of the second vehicle.

In another aspect, there is a roadside access point of a wirelessnetwork, the access point configured to: broadcast a planning message,the planning message specifying one or more particular navigationsatellites, a particular time for acquiring signals from the particularnavigation satellites, and a wireless address of the access point;acquire, at the particular time, from the particular navigationsatellites, a first set of the navigation satellite signals; receive,from a vehicle, a data message comprising a wireless address of thevehicle and data related to a second set of the navigation satellitesignals, the second set of the navigation satellite signals acquired bythe vehicle at the particular time from the particular navigationsatellites; and determine, according to the first set of navigationsatellite signals and the data related to the second set of navigationsatellite signals, a location of the vehicle at the particular time.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form. The concepts are further described in the DetailedDescription section. Elements or steps other than those described inthis Summary are possible, and no element or step is necessarilyrequired. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended foruse as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solveany or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

These and other embodiments are described in further detail withreference to the figures and accompanying detailed description asprovided below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sketch showing a vehicle collision, according to prior art.

FIG. 2 is a sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forvehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a sketch showing three vehicles colliding, according to priorart.

FIG. 4 is a sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forthree vehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of vehiclescooperating to determine the distance between them, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of atraffic scene including wireless entities configured to determinelocations by simultaneous acquisition of satellite signals, according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forvehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments.

Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein are procedures enabling vehicles in traffic todetermine the locations of other proximate vehicles, as well asnon-vehicle transmitters such as pedestrians, toll booths, safety gates,roadside access points, and the like. Systems and methods disclosedherein (the “systems” and “methods”, also occasionally termed“embodiments” or “arrangements”, generally according to presentprinciples) can provide urgently needed wireless communication protocolsto reduce traffic fatalities, facilitate traffic flow, and provide V2Vand V2X communication options appropriate for 5G and 6G technologies,according to some embodiments.

As disclosed in more detail below, vehicles in motion can determine therelative locations of other vehicles or wireless entities, relative toeach other, with improved precision by synchronizing their reception ofsatellite navigation signals. One of the vehicles, or a roadside accesspoint, can broadcast a planning message specifying a particular time atwhich the vehicles will acquire the same signals from the samesatellites simultaneously. The participating vehicles then transmittheir raw data to the planning entity, which can then analyze thesignals differentially. The planning entity thereby determines therelative distances between the vehicles, as opposed to calculating theirglobal coordinates. The differential analysis and simultaneousacquisitions may cause major uncertainties to cancel. For example, byacquiring the same satellite signals at the same time, the participatingentities can negate, or greatly reduce, errors due to the relativemotion of the vehicles, satellite ephemeris and clock errors,atmospheric propagation errors, and others. The planning entity cancorrelate the various arrival-time parameters and optionally the signalphases, and can then analyze the data differentially to determine thedistance between the vehicles at the time of data acquisition. Due tothe simultaneous acquisition, and resulting cancellation of certainerrors, the cooperating entities can determine the distances betweenthem more precisely than by separately acquiring geographicalcoordinates, according to some embodiments. Various resolution-improvingschemes such as “precise point positioning” generally rely on extensiveaveraging including multiple acquisitions of satellite data, spanningminutes to hours, and thus are not feasible when the vehicles aretraveling in traffic.

In one embodiment, vehicles in traffic may exchange messages agreeing toacquire navigation signals, from certain specified satellites, at aspecified time, and to exchange data based on the signals thus acquired,as well as their wireless addresses. The vehicles (or one of them, or aroadside processor) can then analyze the two sets of data to determinethe position of each vehicle relative to the others, including distancesbetween the vehicles. The vehicles (or the planning entity) can thenbroadcast the calculation results as a position map or coordinatelisting, including the wireless addresses of the participating vehicles.The participating vehicles, or any other entities receiving the positonmap or listing, can then determine which vehicles in traffic have whichwireless addresses, so that the vehicles can communicate with each otherthereafter.

With primary sources of error canceled or reduced according to thesimultaneous acquisitions and the differential analysis, the vehiclesmay obtain improved spatial resolution, such as a resolution of lessthan 1 meter in the relative distances and locations, in someembodiments. Such precise locations may enable vehicles to identifyspecific other vehicles in dense traffic, and thereby to communicatewith another vehicle individually, thereby allowing them to cooperate inways not possible absent the specific identification and localization ofthe vehicles. For example, the vehicles can cooperate more effectivelyto avoid collisions and to facilitate efficient flow of traffic. Inaddition, the precise location data may enable collision-avoidancesoftware to calculate trajectories more accurately, discriminatenear-miss events from imminent collisions more accurately, and devisemitigation strategies more accurately than possible without thehigh-resolution location results.

Following are examples of traffic situations in which lives can be savedby improved vehicle location determination.

FIG. 1 is a sketch showing a vehicle collision, according to prior art.A four-lane highway 100 is shown at three times T0, T1, and T2, occupiedby a first, second, and third vehicle 101-102-103 depicted as cars, anda semi-trailer 104. All vehicles are traveling to the right, asindicated by arrows. The first vehicle 101 is outlined in bold toindicate that it is the one transmitting. All three cars 101-103 areautonomous vehicles and all are in radio contact with each other on asidelink or V2V channel.

At T0, the first vehicle 101 recognizes that it is traveling too fastand is likely to hit the second vehicle 102. The first vehicle 101cannot switch to the left lane because the truck 104 is in the way. Itdoesn't make sense to shift to the right because then the third vehicle103 is in the way, and there is no time to reach the rightmost lane.Therefore vehicle 101 transmits an emergency message, intended for thesecond vehicle 102, instructing it to immediately and forcefully shiftto the left, to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, the first vehicle 101has incorrectly determined the wireless address of the second vehicledue to the poor spatial resolution of GPS and the poor angular precisionof directional beamforming. The wireless address which the first vehicle101 thinks belongs to the second vehicle 102, instead belongs to thethird vehicle 103. Therefore, when the first vehicle 101 transmitted thecollision-avoidance instruction, it was actually addressed to the thirdvehicle 103 instead of the second vehicle 102. Consequently, at T1 thethird vehicle 103 immediately performs the instructed left-turnemergency maneuver, and strikes the second vehicle 102. At T3, the firstvehicle 101 collides with the second vehicle 102 since the secondvehicle 102 is still blocking the way. All three vehicles are badlydamaged, as indicated by crunch marks. In fact, they will be lucky ifthey avoid being hit again by the approaching truck 104. The cause ofthe collision was the mistaken determination, by the first vehicle 101,of which of the second and third vehicles 102, 103 had which wirelessaddress. The ultimate source of the collision was the insufficientspatial resolution of GPS which often cannot reliably discriminate twoadjacent vehicles traveling at high speed on a freeway.

FIG. 2 is a sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forvehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments. Asdepicted in this non-limiting example, the freeway 200, first second andthird vehicles 201-202-203 and the truck 204 are as described with FIG.1, however this time the first vehicle 201 exchanged messages with thesecond vehicle 202 according to the systems and methods disclosedherein, and therefore has determined the correct wireless addresses forthe second and third vehicles 202-203. At T0, the first vehicle 201transmits the emergency collision-avoidance message for an immediateleft shift, but this time using the correct wireless address of thesecond vehicle 202. Accordingly, at T1, the second vehicle 202 dodgesleft into the leftmost lane. At T2, the second vehicle has completed thechange, and the first vehicle passes safely through the gap. The thirdvehicle 203 then sends the first vehicle 201 a message expressinggratitude for using an effective technology to correctly identify andlocalize each vehicle, instead of relying on an ineffective means fordetermining which wireless address belongs to which vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a sketch showing three vehicles colliding, according to priorart. A highway 300 includes a first, second, and third vehicle301-302-303 in line. At T0, the first vehicle determines that it istraveling faster than the second vehicle 302 and immediately begins toslow down. To avoid being rear-ended by the third vehicle 303, the firstvehicle 301 transmits an emergency message “slow down immediately!” tothe wireless address that the first vehicle 301 thinks belongs to thethird vehicle 303, and another emergency message “speed up immediately”to the wireless address that the first vehicle 301 thinks belongs to thesecond vehicle 302. Unfortunately, in this case those addresses weremisallocated, and they actually belong to the opposite vehicles. Theerror is due to the poor longitudinal resolution achievable in a movingGPS receiver. Consequently, the third vehicle 303 received an emergencycommand to speed up and the second vehicle 302 got an emergency commandto slow down.

At T1, the second vehicle 302 has obligingly slowed down further, asdirected by the emergency message it mistakenly received, while thethird vehicle 303 has accelerated to high speed, as instructed in itsmistaken message. At T2, the first vehicle 301 has smashed into thesecond vehicle 302 and the third vehicle 303 has smashed into the firstvehicle 301. The cause of this accident was that the first vehicle 301had misallocated the wireless addresses to the two other vehicles,resulting in sending the emergency messages to the wrong vehicles. Theultimate source was the poor longitudinal resolution of satellite-basedlocations when moving at high speed.

FIG. 4 is a sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forthree vehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments. Asdepicted in this non-limiting example, a first, second, and thirdvehicle 401-402-403 are in line on a highway 400 when, at T0, the firstvehicle 401 determines that it is going faster than the second vehicle402 and begins to slow down. To avoid being rear-ended, the firstvehicle 401 sends an emergency message to the third vehicle 403 to slowdown, and another emergency message to the second vehicle 402 to speedup. The first vehicle 401 knows the correct wireless address of thesecond and third vehicles 402-403 because, at an earlier time, all threevehicles acquired GPS signals simultaneously and they, or one of them,analyzed those signals differentially to determine each vehicle'sposition in association with the vehicle's wireless address.Accordingly, the third vehicle 403 receives the emergency messagecorrectly addressed to it and, at T1, has begun slowing down asdirected. Likewise, the second vehicle 402 has received the accelerationrequest and has speeded up, giving the others crucial extra seconds todecelerate.

At time T2, the first and third vehicles 401-403 have decelerated tomatch the second vehicle 402, thereby avoiding colliding. Thus acollision can be avoided (or at least mitigated) in almost every case bycooperative action among the participants, but only if each participantknows which wireless address belongs to which other vehicle.

Systems and methods for simultaneous GPS reception are described in thefollowing examples.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of vehiclescooperating to determine the distances between them, according to someembodiments. As depicted in this non-limiting example, a first vehicle501 and a second vehicle 502 are configured for wireless communication,reception of satellite navigation signals, and processing oflocalization data. The first vehicle 501 includes a first antenna 511, afirst wireless transceiver 521, a first processor 541, and a first GPS(or other navigation type) receiver 531, while the second vehicle 502includes a second antenna 512, a second transceiver 522, a secondprocessor 542, and a second GPS receiver 532. The first vehicle 501 isconfigured to transmit a first wireless message 551 symbolized by waves,the second vehicle 502 is configured to transmit a second wirelessmessage 552, and the navigation satellite 503 is configured to transmitGPS (or other navigation) signals 553.

Three distances between the vehicles are defined as follows: A distanceDmin 504 is the distance between the closest parts of the two vehicles501-502, a distance Dnav 514 is the distance between the GPS (or othernavigation) receivers 531-532, and a distance Dcentroid 524 is thedistance between geometric centroids of the two vehicles 501-502. From atraffic-safety perspective, the important distance is Dmin 504, whilefor GPS signals the relevant distance is Dnav 514, and for visual sceneinterpretation, Dcentroid 524 may be most natural. Each vehicle 501-502may include correction factors that translate between measurements basedon the three distances 504-514-524, and other distances based on othersensors. Although such corrections have not been significant withprior-art low-resolution localization, the improved precision enabled bythe systems and methods disclosed herein may necessitate such distancecorrections, according to some embodiments.

In the depicted example, the first and second vehicles 501-502 mayinitially communicate to agree upon a plan to simultaneously receive GPSsignals 553. For example, the first vehicle 501 (the “planning” vehicle)may broadcast a first message 551 indicating, for example, a particulartime at which the vehicles 501-502 may receive GPS signals 553 from aparticular satellite 503. The second vehicle 502 may reply with amessage 552 agreeing to the plan. Alternatively, the second vehicle 502may remain silent and not respond, since there is no need to clutter thebandwidth with unnecessary messaging. If the second vehicle 502 cannotcomply with the original plan, it can propose a different plan, ordecline to participate, or otherwise respond, or not respond.

The first and second vehicles 501-502 then receive (or attempt toreceive) the same satellite signal 553 at their respective GPS receivers531-532 at the specified time, and then exchange messages 551 or 552including data derived from the received satellite signals 553. Forexample, the second entity 502 may determine timing data from thereceived satellite signal 553, and may then transmit a message includingthat data to the first vehicle 501. Then, using the processor 541, thefirst vehicle may analyze the data received from the second vehicle 502along with data derived from its own reception of the satellite signals553, determining a differential between the two data sets, and maythereby derive a distance, such as Dnav 514, related to thatdifferential.

The analysis of the combined data may be configured to negate errors.For example, the first processor 541 may be configured to calculate adifferential or difference between the signals received by the first andsecond 501-502 vehicles, and may derive a distance between the vehicles(or a component of that distance) from the observed difference betweenthe two signals. For example, the data may include a time of arrival, ora difference in the times of arrival, of a particular signal feature insignals from two different satellites positioned at opposite sides ofthe sky. The arrival times of those two signal features, and theirdifferential, may be different for the first and second vehicles501-502, due to their different distances from the satellite 503. Thedistance Dnav 514 is related to that time difference by trigonometry.For example, if a particular satellite 503 is positioned along the linebetween the two vehicles 501-502, then Dnav may equal that timedifference divided by the speed of light. If the satellite 503 ispositioned at an angle relative to the line between the vehicles, thenthe distance is related trigonometrically to that angle. In addition, bysimultaneously receiving further signals from other navigationsatellites (at least three, preferably four satellites), the vehiclescan differentially analyze those signals as well, and thereby determinea two-dimensional location of the second vehicle 502 relative to thefirst vehicle 501.

If the two vehicles 501-502 acquire satellite navigation signals at thesame time from the same satellites, then improved precision may beobtained by subtracting the time of arrival of a particular signalfeature at the first and second GPS receivers 531-532 for the satellitesreceived. In some embodiments, it may not be necessary for the vehiclesto include a precision time-base because the differences between arrivaltimes of satellites at various positions in the sky are sufficient todetermine the relative positions of the vehicles. Differential analysisis often more precise than calculating a first distance of the firstvehicle 501 from the satellite 503 and a second distance of the secondvehicle 502 from the satellite 503, and then subtracting those two largedistances to obtain the small distance between the vehicles. Inaddition, other errors may cancel each other in the differentialcalculation, such as errors due to satellite motion or satellitetime-base errors, which are the same for the two vehicles' data sets,and therefore cancel in the differential. Since it is not necessary, inthis example, to determine the absolute latitude and longitude of thevehicles, the differential distance Dnav may be determined to greaterprecision as a result of the cancellation of the common distortions whenthe signals are acquired at the same time from the same satellitesignals. In addition, it may not be necessary to calculate the distanceto the satellite 503, nor to determine other parameters related toabsolute location, thereby saving time and canceling further sources ofuncertainty such as errors due to vehicle motion and satellite motion,vehicle time-base errors and satellite clock errors, uncertainties insatellite position and its motion versus time, and many others thatcancel in the differential. The simultaneous acquisition may therebyenable a more precise determination of the relative distance between thetwo vehicles 501-502, and in their two-dimensional location of thesecond vehicle 502 relative to the first vehicle 501, than provided byseparate uncoordinated acquisitions, according to some embodiments.

As used herein, the two entities detect satellite signals“simultaneously” if the entities detect the same signals as closely intime as possible, given the finite speed of the signals. For example, ifthe vehicles are 300 meters apart, and if a satellite is in line withthe vehicles, then the satellite signal will reach one of the vehiclesabout 1 microsecond later than the other vehicle. If both vehiclesdetect the same feature of the same signal from the same satellite, thenthe vehicles are said to have detected simultaneously, notwithstandingthe signal propagation time between vehicles. However, that timingdifferential is directly related to the distance between the vehicles,and this relationship is independent of the distance to the satellite,the motion of the vehicles, the motion of the satellite, the stabilityof the satellite's time-base, and many other cancelling uncertainties.

In some embodiments of the systems and methods, any number of vehicles(or other wireless entities) may be in radio range of each other, andmay be configured to exchange messages specifying data from three ormore data sets acquired from three or more navigation satellites. Forexample, a first vehicle may broadcast a planning message specifying atime at which the vehicles will acquire signals from each of thosesatellites. The participating vehicles can then acquire the varioussignals from the specified satellites at the specified time in thespecified order. Each of the vehicles may then derive data from thesignals that they individually detect, and may transmit their replymessages to the first vehicle (or to another calculating entity such asa roadside access point), specifying that data. For example, eachvehicle can include, in the data, a time difference between the arrivalof a specific feature of the signals from each of the satellites, thetime difference being measured to sufficient precision (such as 1-2nanoseconds, for example) that the planning entity can derive relativepositions of the vehicles by comparing those time differences. Thevehicles may also include, in the planning message and the replymessages, each entity's wireless address, so that the vehicles cancommunicate with each other thereafter.

The first vehicle (or multiple vehicles, or a fixed entity) can thencalculate the locations of each other participating vehicle, relative tothe first vehicle or a central vehicle or some other basis, for example.The first vehicle may then broadcast a “locations” message including thecalculated position map showing each participating vehicle's positionalong with its wireless address. Then, after receiving the locationsmessage, the participating vehicles can then refer to the position mapto determine which wireless address goes with which physical vehicle,and can thereby communicate with and coordinate with the other vehicles.

The coordinate system of the position map may be related to ageographical coordinate system such as north and south, or it may bebased on the direction of travel of the first vehicle, or it may berelative to the direction of the road that the vehicles are on. Theposition map may be a list of Cartesian coordinates and wirelessaddresses, for example. The coordinates may be the (X,Y) coordinates ofeach participating vehicle, in meters or in 10-cm units, relative to thefirst vehicle, with the X coordinate measured parallel to the road andthe Y coordinate perpendicular to the road, for example. Alternatively,or in addition, the first vehicle (or other entity) may broadcast amessage including a coordinate listing of the vehicle positions.Alternatively, the calculating entity may prepare a two-dimensional mapas an image for example, or other format.

Calculating the location of a vehicle, relative to another vehicle,based on differential analysis of the simultaneously acquired data, mayinclude a fitting step. When a location is determined redundantly bymultiple independent measurements, the separate determinations generallydisagree with each other due to measurement uncertainty and roundofferrors and the like. The first vehicle (or other calculating entity,such as a roadside computer) may process the measurements using afitting function such as averaging the values, or performing aleast-squares fit, or a maximum-likelihood fit, or an outlier-freemean-value fit, or other type of combination of the values. Anartificial intelligence model, trained by machine learning using a largenumber of traffic location scenarios, may be employed to perform thelocation analysis based on the individually measured satellite datasets, including fitting the over-determined coordinates of the vehiclesand other participating entities. A land-based access point or basestation, or a remote supercomputer in communication with the roadsideassets, may assist by solving the location fit rapidly.

Differentially analyzing the data acquired from multiple vehicles, andadjusting the two-dimensional fitting function for each vehicle'scoordinates relative to the first vehicle, for example, is a complexproblem. Artificial intelligence (AI) may be well-suited to determiningthe relative positions of the vehicles according to the satellitesignals, due to the ability of some AI models to account for a widerange of parameters that may be mutually under- or over-determined orotherwise conflicted. For example, a software AI structure, such as aneural net, may be configured in a supercomputer, to accept as inputsthe data acquired by each of the vehicles for each of the satellites,and to calculate a maximum-likelihood (or other fitting type) solutionfor the relative positions of the vehicles. Adjustable variables in theAI structure may be varied to incrementally and iteratively improve theaccuracy of a predicted distance, for example, by comparing thepredicted distance to the actual measured distance between vehicles.When adjusted to provide sufficiently accurate relative positionmeasurements, the AI structure may be termed an AI model since it canthen perform a useful task.

In some embodiments, the AI model may be too large and unwieldy for useby a busy vehicle processor. Therefore, a smaller and simpler algorithmmay be derived from the successful AI model, by freezing the adjustablevariables in beneficial values, and/or removing (“pruning”) thenon-productive inputs and functions. Alternatively, the algorithm may beconfigured as a different type of calculation tool, such as a table ofvalues that can be interpolated, a computer program that emulates the AImodel, an analytic function or set of functions, or other way ofcalculating the relative positions of the vehicles according to thesatellite data.

Due to the potentially large number of inputs and adjustable variablesin the model, and the very large amount of training data likely neededfor convergence of the model, the AI structure is preferably prepared ina supercomputer. The supercomputer may be a classicalsemiconductor-based computer, with sufficient speed and thread count andprocessor count to perform the model training in a feasible amount oftime. Alternatively, the supercomputer may be a quantum computer having“qbits” or quantum bits as its working elements. Quantum computers mayprovide special advantages to solving AI models because they can veryrapidly explore a complex terrain of values, such as the highlyinterrelated effects of the various inputs on the output results.Therefore, the systems and methods include a quantum computer programmedto include an AI structure and trained on a large number of trafficscenarios in which vehicles acquire navigation-satellite signalssynchronously and perform differential analysis on the data sets.

The participating vehicles, after receiving the location message inwhich the vehicle locations are associated with their wirelessaddresses, can then communicate with each other “specifically”, that is,transmitting messages unicast to a particular vehicle selected from thesurrounding traffic. In addition, the location data may assist ahazard-avoidance program in each vehicle, for detecting imminentcollisions and devising evasion strategies. In addition, with knowledgeof the wireless addresses of each participating vehicle in proximity,the vehicles may thereby cooperate for collision avoidance and trafficmanagement, in ways that may not be possible absent the disclosedsystems and methods.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sketch showing an exemplary embodiment of atraffic scene including wireless entities configured to determinelocations by simultaneous acquisition of satellite signals, according tosome embodiments. As depicted in this non-limiting example, a multi-lanehighway 608 includes vehicles rendered as cars 601 and 602, and a truck604. On a connecting street 609 is another vehicle 603. Near the highway608 is a pedestrian 605 with a mobile phone, an automatic wirelesstollbooth 606, and a roadside access point or base station 607. All ofthose entities 601-607 are in wireless communication with each other on,for example, a sidelink or other predetermined frequency, and are alsoconfigured to detect signals, such as GPS (or other satellite) signals.Overhead at various angles are four navigation satellites 610, 611, 612,and 613, such as GPS satellites.

A planning entity, such as vehicle 601 or the access point 607,initially broadcasts a planning message to all receivers in range,suggesting a synchronized acquisition of satellite signals at aparticular time relative to the planning message, such as 100microseconds or 10 milliseconds after the planning message ends, forexample. The planning message may specify that signals are to beacquired from particular satellites, such as satellites 610-613,receiving each satellite's signal at a particular time according to thesatellite's transmission schedule. The planning message may includespecifications about how the signals are to be analyzed (such asdetecting and relative timing a particular feature of the signals) andhow the data (such as the timing of the feature) is to be returned tothe planning entity. The entities 601-607 may then acquire the satellitesignals from the specified satellites 610-613 at the specified times.Each entity may then reduce the received signals to specific data valuesof parameters needed for the relative location determination, such asthe arrival times (or time differences) of a particular feature or phaseof each satellite signal. The entities may then transmit data messagesindicating the data thereby obtained. To avoid message interferenceamong the data messages, the entities may monitor the channel during anLBT (listen-before-talk) interval before transmitting. The LBT intervalmay be a randomly selected interval, within a predetermined maximum timeinterval. Alternatively, the entities may have agreed as to the order inwhich they will report their data values, or they may have been assignedseparate frequencies or bands for each entity, among other ways to avoidmessage interference. If a message interference occurs, then theplanning entity or other entity may request a retransmission.

After receiving the data messages from the participating entities, theplanning entity may analyze the various data sets to determine therelative positions of the entities. The planning entity may beconfigured to perform the location calculations in a differentialmanner, configured to cause certain errors or uncertainties to canceleach other. For example, the planning entity may be configured tosubtract corresponding data values from two (or more) of the entities toobtain a differential value, and may then calculate a relative distance,or coordinate displacement, between those two entities according to thedifferential value (along with other data, such as angles tosatellites). In addition, if multiple participating entities arepresent, the planning entity may be configured to perform a fit orweighted average or the like, in which the location of each entity maybe determined by combining multiple distance measurements according toeach of the participating entities and each of the satellites. Theplanning entity may thereby derive a maximum-likelihood or otherimproved location determination for each participating entity, which maybe more precise than any of the contributing values individually,according to some embodiments. The planning entity may then assemble thevarious positions relative to, for example, the planning vehicle, as aposition map, and may broadcast the position map with locations thusobtained. In addition, each vehicle's coordinates in the coordinatelisting (or its location in the position map) may be annotated with thatvehicle's wireless address.

Many advantages may result from the improved relative positiondeterminations. For example, in the depicted scenario, vehicle 601 maybe prepared to take violent evasive actions if the pedestrian 605 is inthe roadway 608. However, if a precision determination of thepedestrian's location indicates it is not encroaching the highway 608,then the vehicle 601 may proceed safely in lane and avoid a risky swervemaneuver. If the precision location determination reveals that thepedestrian 605 has indeed stepped onto the highway 608, then theprecision location determination may provide the approaching vehicle 601with sufficient time to swerve or stop safely. Sufficiently precise datamay enable the vehicle 601 to manage the maneuver with minimum risk toitself, and may thereby save the errant pedestrian's life. Ordinary GPSsignals, with a resolution of a few meters typically for movingvehicles, may not be sufficient in general to indicate whether thepedestrian is in the lane or on the side. Therefore it is essential thatthe oncoming vehicles obtain sufficiently precise location informationas soon as possible, so that an emergency avoidance maneuver (with itsrisks) can be executed in time.

The precision location determination may also be necessary to separateclosely-spaced entities. For example, the nearest surfaces of the truck604 and the passing car 602 may be less than a meter of each other,which is below the resolution normally provided by non-differential,non-simultaneous, individual GPS. Improved spatial resolution, andespecially improved determination of distances between entities, may benecessary to separate them, without which it may be impossible to forman accurate map of the local traffic.

Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles depend on continuous trafficsituation awareness for control and safety. But in the present example,at least some of the entities are obscured from the sensors and camerasof other entities, and therefore cannot be included accurately in thelocal traffic map. Vehicle 601 is unable to detect the waiting car 603or the toll booth 606, for example. The location message may list thecoordinates of all those entities, thereby revealing hidden entities andproviding a more complete map of the traffic scenario.

In some embodiments, the access point 607 may be the planning entity,configured to transmit the planning message, acquire satellite signalsat the specified time, and receive the data messages of the otherentities. The access point 607 may perform differential analysis on thevehicles' data relative to the access point's received signals,determining the spatial distribution of the vehicles and other entitiesrelative to the location of the access point. The access point 607 canalso perform fitting on the over-determined values, such as amaximum-likelihood fitting for example, and can then broadcast thelocation results to the other entities. Since the computing power of theland-based and stationary access point 607 is likely far better thanmost mobile processors, the access point 607 may be able to provide amore accurate determination, and faster, than the mobile entities could.In addition, the access point can broadcast the coordinate listingformatted as the geographical latitude and longitude of each vehicle, byadding the access point's previously determined coordinates to therelative position coordinates of each vehicle. In addition, the accesspoint 607 may be in communication with other fixed assets, such as otherbase stations or access points upstream and downstream on the highway,and can compare the current traffic distribution with earlier trafficdeterminations upstream. This may reveal problems or emerging hazards,and may provide improved location resolution at the current site, forexample. In addition, the access point 607 may be able to communicatewith one of the vehicles according to the location and addressinformation thus determined, for example to warn the vehicle of ahazard. A further advantage of the access point 607 doing the analysismay be that the vehicles would be minimally distracted, since they wouldbe required only to acquire the satellite signals at the specified timeand transmit the data results or timing parameters to the access point607. Assisted by the roadside access point's computers, the vehicles mayobtain traffic awareness including localization and identification ofsurrounding vehicles, while focusing primarily on operating the vehicleinstead of analyzing group data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an exemplary embodiment of a procedure forvehicles to avoid a collision, according to some embodiments. Asdepicted in this non-limiting example, at 701 a first vehicle (or otherentity such as a roadside access point) broadcasts a planning messagespecifying particular navigation satellites and a particular time atwhich the satellite signals can be acquired, For example, the specifiedacquisition time may be in the range of 10 microseconds to 1 secondfollowing the start or end of the planning message, or other delay timeconfigured to match a scheduled transmission time of the satellite orsatellites. At 702, the other vehicles in proximity receive the planningmessage. The other vehicles may acknowledge or they may remain silent.Acknowledgement may be unnecessary in most cases. At the specified time,each vehicle acquires the satellite signals as directed. At 703, eachvehicle analyzes the satellite signals to determine a characteristicparameter such as a timing or phase or other feature of the signals,related to the vehicle's location. At 704, each vehicle transmits a datamessage indicating the characteristic parameter (or parameters) as wellas the wireless address of that vehicle. At 705, the first vehicleanalyzes the various data sets. For example, the first vehicle maysubtract or differentially compare the characteristic parametersdetermined by each of the vehicles, and thereby determines a relativelocation for each of the vehicles instead of a global geographiclocation. For example, the location of one vehicle may be determinedrelative to, say, the planning entity or other reference point, therebycanceling many uncertainties and measurement errors.

The orientation of the location distribution may be relative to thedirection of the road or the travel direction of the first vehicle or ageographical direction, for example. In addition, if multiple vehiclesare participating, each location coordinate is likely to beoverdetermined by multiple independent measurements. In that case, thefirst vehicle may apply an averaging or fitting function to obtain aself-consistent distribution of locations of the vehicles. In addition,optionally, the vehicle locations may be adjusted to indicate thelocations of the vehicle centroids instead of the location of the GPSreceiver (the vehicles may indicate this correction in their datamessages so that the first vehicle can add or subtract it from thevalues in the position map or coordinate listing). At 706, the firstvehicle broadcasts a location message indicating the locationcoordinates of each vehicle (relative to the first vehicle in this case)along with each vehicle's wireless address.

At 707, the vehicles continue to monitor the positions of proximatevehicles as they proceed along the road using, for example, cameras orother sensors, and may thereby keep track of which vehicle has whichwireless address as they move. Later, at 708, a third vehicle detects animminent hazard such as a collision involving a fourth vehicle. Thethird vehicle knows the wireless address of the fourth vehicle becausethey were both listed in the location message, and therefore at 709 thethird vehicle transmits an emergency message to the fourth vehiclerequesting immediate evasion to avoid the collision. At 710, the fourthvehicle complies, the collision is avoided, and a life is saved as aresult of precisely determining vehicle locations by simultaneous GPS asdisclosed herein.

In general, the systems and methods disclosed herein are configured toprovide relative distance and/or location determinations of vehicles andother wireless entities, using procedures in which common errors anduncertainties cancel. The procedures can provide improved localizationprecision and thereby identify each vehicle in proximity when combinedwith the determined wireless address of the vehicle. Such high-precisionlocalization can greatly assist a collision-avoidance software byenabling improved trajectory calculations and improved near-missdetermination, according to some embodiments. Higher localizationprecision can also provide earlier detection of imminent collisions, andtherefore additional time to implement an avoidance or mitigationstrategy, with lower risk involved in that strategy. Hence, feweraccidents may ensue, and less harm in each remaining collision, thanwould be possible absent the disclosed methods and systems.

The wireless embodiments of this disclosure may be aptly suited forcloud backup protection, according to some embodiments. Furthermore, thecloud backup can be provided cyber-security, such as blockchain, to lockor protect data, thereby preventing malevolent actors from makingchanges. The cyber-security may thereby avoid changes that, in someapplications, could result in hazards including lethal hazards, such asin applications related to traffic safety, electric grid management, lawenforcement, or national security.

In some embodiments, non-transitory computer-readable media may includeinstructions that, when executed by a computing environment, cause amethod to be performed, the method according to the principles disclosedherein. In some embodiments, the instructions (such as software orfirmware) may be upgradable or updatable, to provide additionalcapabilities and/or to fix errors and/or to remove securityvulnerabilities, among many other reasons for updating software. In someembodiments, the updates may be provided monthly, quarterly, annually,every 2 or 3 or 4 years, or upon other interval, or at the convenienceof the owner, for example. In some embodiments, the updates (especiallyupdates providing added capabilities) may be provided on a fee basis.The intent of the updates may be to cause the updated software toperform better than previously, and to thereby provide additional usersatisfaction.

The system and method may be fully implemented in any number ofcomputing devices. Typically, instructions are laid out on computerreadable media, generally non-transitory, and these instructions aresufficient to allow a processor in the computing device to implement themethod of the invention. The computer readable medium may be a harddrive or solid state storage having instructions that, when run, orsooner, are loaded into random access memory. Inputs to the application,e.g., from the plurality of users or from any one user, may be by anynumber of appropriate computer input devices. For example, users mayemploy vehicular controls, as well as a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen,joystick, trackpad, other pointing device, or any other such computerinput device to input data relevant to the calculations. Data may alsobe input by way of one or more sensors on the vehicle, an insertedmemory chip, hard drive, flash drives, flash memory, optical media,magnetic media, or any other type of file—storing medium. The outputsmay be delivered to a user by way of signals transmitted to vehiclesteering and throttle controls, a video graphics card or integratedgraphics chipset coupled to a display that maybe seen by a user. Giventhis teaching, any number of other tangible outputs will also beunderstood to be contemplated by the invention. For example, outputs maybe stored on a memory chip, hard drive, flash drives, flash memory,optical media, magnetic media, or any other type of output. It shouldalso be noted that the invention may be implemented on any number ofdifferent types of computing devices, e.g., embedded systems andprocessors, personal computers, laptop computers, notebook computers,net book computers, handheld computers, personal digital assistants,mobile phones, smart phones, tablet computers, and also on devicesspecifically designed for these purpose. In one implementation, a userof a smart phone or WiFi-connected device downloads a copy of theapplication to their device from a server using a wireless Internetconnection. An appropriate authentication procedure and securetransaction process may provide for payment to be made to the seller.The application may download over the mobile connection, or over theWiFi or other wireless network connection. The application may then berun by the user. Such a networked system may provide a suitablecomputing environment for an implementation in which a plurality ofusers provide separate inputs to the system and method. In the belowsystem where vehicle controls are contemplated, the plural inputs mayallow plural users to input relevant data at the same time.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description is not adefinition of the invention but is a description of one or morepreferred exemplary embodiments of the invention. The invention is notlimited to the particular embodiments(s) disclosed herein, but rather isdefined solely by the claims below. Furthermore, the statementscontained in the foregoing description relate to particular embodimentsand are not to be construed as limitations on the scope of the inventionor on the definition of terms used in the claims, except where a term orphrase is expressly defined above. Various other embodiments and variouschanges and modifications to the disclosed embodiment(s) will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the specificcombination and order of steps is just one possibility, as the presentmethod may include a combination of steps that has fewer, greater, ordifferent steps than that shown here. All such other embodiments,changes, and modifications are intended to come within the scope of theappended claims.

As used in this specification and claims, the terms “for example”,“e.g.”, “for instance”, “such as”, and “like” and the terms“comprising”, “having”, “including”, and their other verb forms, whenused in conjunction with a listing of one or more components or otheritems, are each to be construed as open-ended, meaning that the listingis not to be considered as excluding other additional components oritems. Other terms are to be construed using their broadest reasonablemeaning unless they are used in a context that requires a differentinterpretation.

1. A method for a first wireless entity to determine a position of asecond wireless entity relative to the first wireless entity, the methodcomprising: a) at a predetermined time, acquiring a first set ofnavigation satellite signals; b) receiving, from the second wirelessentity, a wireless data message comprising data related to a second setof navigation satellite signals acquired by the second vehicle at thepredetermined time; c) differentially analyzing the first set ofnavigation satellite signals and the data related to the second set ofnavigation satellite signals; and d) determining, according to thedifferential analysis, a distance and a direction between the first andsecond wireless entities.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wirelessdata message is transmitted according to 5G or 6G technology.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising specifying, by the first wirelessentity, the predetermined time and one or more particular satellites,wherein the first and second sets of navigation satellite signals are tobe acquired at the predetermined time from the particular satellites. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the secondwireless entity, concatenated with or included in the wireless datamessage, a wireless address or identification code of the secondwireless entity.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting or broadcasting a location message indicating the wirelessaddress or identification code of the first and second wirelessentities, and the position of the second wireless entity relative to thefirst wireless entity.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the locationmessage further indicates a latitude and a longitude of the firstwireless entity.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the location messagefurther indicates the position of the second wireless entity relative tothe first wireless entity in a Cartesian coordinate system.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the Cartesian coordinate system comprises afirst axis parallel to a road occupied by the first and second wirelessentities, and a second axis perpendicular to the road.
 9. The method ofclaim 5, further comprising: a) receiving, by a third wireless entity,the location message; b) determining, by the third wireless entity, thata collision is imminent between the third wireless entity and a fourthwireless entity; c) determining, by the third wireless entity, accordingto the location message, a wireless address of the fourth wirelessentity; and d) transmitting, by the third wireless entity, to the fourthwireless entity, an emergency message.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein: a) the second wireless entity is not visible to the firstwireless entity and to a camera of the first wireless entity; and b) thefirst wireless entity is not visible to the second wireless entity andto a camera of the second wireless entity.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the differentially analyzing comprises: a) determining a firstvalue of a particular parameter according to the first set of navigationsatellite signals; b) determining a second value of the particularparameter according to the data related to the second set of navigationsatellite signals; c) determining a differential by subtracting thefirst and second values; and d) determining the position of the secondwireless entity relative to the first wireless entity based at least inpart on the differential.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein thedifferentially analyzing is configured to cancel at least onemeasurement error that is present in both the first and second sets ofsatellite signals.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless datamessage further indicates a position of a centroid of the second vehiclerelative to a navigation antenna of the second vehicle, the navigationantenna configured to receive the second set of navigation satellitesignals.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting orbroadcasting a location message indicating the wireless address oridentification code of the first and second wireless entities, theposition of the second wireless entity relative to the first wirelessentity, the position of the centroid of the second vehicle relative tothe navigation antenna of the second vehicle, and a position of acentroid of the first vehicle relative to a navigation antenna of thefirst vehicle.
 15. Non-transitory computer-readable media in a secondvehicle in traffic, the traffic comprising a first vehicle and at leastone other vehicle, the media containing instructions that whenimplemented by a computing environment cause a method to be performed,the method comprising: a) receiving, from the first vehicle, a planningmessage specifying a particular time and a particular satellite orsatellites, and further specifying that navigation satellite signalsfrom the particular satellite or satellites are to be acquired at theparticular time; b) acquiring the navigation satellite signals at theparticular time; c) determining, from the navigation satellite signals,a value of a parameter; and d) transmitting or broadcasting a datamessage indicating the value of the parameter and further indicating asecond wireless address of the second vehicle.
 16. The media of claim15, the method further comprising receiving, from the first vehicle, alocation message indicating: a) a location of the second vehiclerelative to the first vehicle; b) a first wireless address of the firstvehicle and an indication that the first wireless address is associatedwith the first vehicle; and c) the second wireless address of the secondvehicle and an indication that the second wireless address is associatedwith the second vehicle.
 17. The media of claim 16, the method furthercomprising: a) before transmitting or broadcasting the data message,monitoring a frequency or channel during a listen-before-talk interval;b) then transmitting or broadcasting the data message if notransmissions are detected during the listen-before-talk interval; andc) if a transmission is detected during the listen-before-talk interval,delaying transmitting or broadcasting the data message until thedetected transmission has finished.
 18. The media of claim 16, themethod further comprising: a) determining that a collision is imminentbetween the second vehicle and a third vehicle; b) determining,according to the location message, a wireless address and a position ofthe third vehicle; and c) transmitting, to the third vehicle, anemergency message.
 19. A roadside access point of a wireless network,the access point configured to: a) broadcast a planning message, theplanning message specifying one or more particular navigationsatellites, a particular time for acquiring signals from the particularnavigation satellites, and a wireless address of the access point; b)acquire, at the particular time, from the particular navigationsatellites, a first set of the navigation satellite signals; c) receive,from a vehicle, a data message comprising a wireless address of thevehicle and data related to a second set of the navigation satellitesignals, the second set of the navigation satellite signals acquired bythe vehicle at the particular time from the particular navigationsatellites; and d) determine, according to the first set of navigationsatellite signals and the data related to the second set of navigationsatellite signals, a location of the vehicle at the particular time. 20.The access point of claim 18, further configured to broadcast a locationmessage comprising the location of the vehicle relative to the accesspoint, the wireless address of the vehicle, and the wireless address ofthe access point.